In the service industry, there are plenty of urban legends about the unassuming customer who once left a $1,000 tip or a regular who drops $100 in gratuity each time he orders a burger.

In my five years as a bartender, I never got one of those golden ticket tips. And, unless I could learn to magically turn water into beer, I don’t think I did anything special to deserve that big of a tip.

One customer, however, in town attending a pot convention, did once attempt to pay a bill and tip with marijuana. Oh, Denver! And I’d be remiss to not mention the “regular” who left me a teddy bear and roses on my car. Twice. Because if it didn’t work the first time, try again? Finding a stuffed animal strangled under a windshield wiper in a dark parking lot at 2 a.m., did not feel like a reward for stellar service. It was, um, alarming. Both times.

I did receive a few great tips, though. I remember on one of the slowest nights I ever had worked — literally two customers came in all night — I got a pity tip of $75 on a $25 tab.

Also, I’d find stray $20 bills in my apron on the nights my grandma had come in for a visit. Her little legs would dangle from the bar stools and we’d chat while I was tethered to the well making drinks! Once, on her way to visit me at work, she got turned around and accidentally walked into a gentlemen’s cabaret (which, to be fair, had similar architecture to the bar I worked at). I would have loved to see the doorman’s face when she asked to sit in her granddaughter’s section. Oopsie!

My job at the bar was a part-time gig I worked to save up rubles for a down-payment on a house. By day, I worked in a newsroom. By night, I changed into clunky, non-slip shoes and (begrudgingly) put on a visor. (I still maintain visors should only be worn by college football coaches in the ’90s).

But I got a lot out of bartending — beyond my house. I loved hearing the patrons’ stories. I know how to make good drinks. I even got tiny lil’ beer-pouring biceps.

And, I’ve got a few “tips” for you — on how to score deals when you go out to eat.

Ask to sit at the bar. It’s where you’ll find some of the best service (I’m biased. But it’s true). The closer you are to the drink well and beer towers, the more likely you are to score free drinks — especially if you’re not picky. There is a margin of error that can work in your favor: When I poured the wrong beer or read a drink ticket wrong, I’d pass the drink along to the nearest guest.

Never ask for free drinks. Bartenders usually have a reserve of “comp” alcohol they can give out for free, and it doesn’t go to the squeaky wheels. (Sorry, but you’re perceived as cheap). Liquor vendors frequently give restaurants free “samples” of new products on the market. When we had guests who were kind, polite or regulars, we’d treat them to free drinks from the reserve stash.

If you’re at a family-friendly restaurant, think about sitting at the bar with your kids. Making smoothies that are exactly 16-ounces is a tough science, so your kids (OK, you) will get free leftover milkshakes or smoothies.

When I got back to the office after closing on my new house, a coworker quickly handed me a document and asked me to sign it. A paragraph or two of small type on the paper said I’d turn over all of my assets to her, or something like that. I grabbed a pen and signed it — using the name Washington Irving.

It wasn’t a bad try, though. My wife and I had just spent a lot of the morning signing document after document, our signatures gradually devolving from pretty recognizable groupings of letters into abstract, lumpy lines. I spent only a little more time reading them than I do before I click “I AGREE” when downloading apps for my phone.

“I think when people are handed form contracts, or see contracts online for example that are presented to you by iTunes or whatever they often don’t read them,” he says. “I think when people are handed a tailored contract, like an employment contract or something like that, they tend to read them more carefully.”

I asked if he reads every contract before signing.

“No. Even law professors, even contract professors don’t read every contract that they sign.”

That was his first mistake. If Emerzian had a computer, he might not have made that call.

Google “1st United Consultants,” and among the first results are links to examples of con games run by 1st United Consultants. The name changes — in Tucson, it was Smart Solutions Financial Services; the Get Out Of Debt Guy consumer blog, it was 1st United Consultants again — but the game’s the same.

Victims never meet with the scammers in person. All conversations are over the phone or via email. The scammer promises the victim a lower interest rate, and directs the victim to send the recalculated mortgage checks to the scammer via direct deposit. No addresses involved.

Meanwhile, the original mortgage company, missing its monthly payments, starts the foreclosure process. By the time the victim finds out that he’s been conned, it might be too late to save his house. Taking legal action is impossible because the company has vanished, with no working phone number, and no record of its physical existence.

Other scams currently popular:

Furnace inspectors who work door-to-door and ask to see your furnace, and find expensive (nonexistent) problems, including cracks and blockages;

check-transfer scams that promise victims a percentage of a five-figure money order or cashier’s check if the victims will deposit the check and then send that money, minus the finder’s fee, to the scammers.

Downsizing: The art of dealing with all of that stuff — If the 1980s were about greed and accumulating possessions, the current era is about downsizing and letting go of those possessions, says Denver gerontologist Karen Owen-Lee, author of “The Caring Code: What Baby Boomers Need to Learn About Seniors”

In pursuit of finding out how the Millennial generation feels about credit cards, I turned to my three twenty-something roommates.

I emailed them some general questions concerning credit cards, including whether they had ever used one, what they used instead if not, and if they ever worried about — or thought about — their credit score. Here’s what they had to say. Read more…

When it comes to suncreen, opt for higher SPF numbers. (Creative Commons)

Just because it’s August and you’ve got your eye on back-to-school season, football tailgates and the new fall fashions doesn’t mean you can stop wearing sunscreen. In fact, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, more than 3.5 million skin cancers are diagnosed each year in more than 2 million people. And many of those cancers could have been prevented with proper sun protection.

“Ultraviolet radiation from the sun breaks down collagen in the skin, causing premature wrinkling and sagging, and makes the skin produce more melanin, resulting in brown spots and blotches,” Dr. Heidi Gilchrist, a board certified dermatologist and nationally known beauty expert, says. “UV radiation is different from light and different from heat: It is invisible. Even on a cool, cloudy day you can still receive enough radiation to damage your skin long term.”

OK, we’re sold. But what do we need to know as we’re staring down a wall full of different options? We asked Gilchrist for tips on how to buy sunscreen.

Pick sunscreens labeled “broad spectrum.” “This means that they block both UVA and UVB radiation,” she says. “Read the label. Many sunscreen ingredients block UVB, but only four block UVA. Make sure your sunscreen has at least one of the following ingredients: avobenzone, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or ecamsule.”

Use SPF 30 or higher. “When the SPF is tested in a lab, the sunscreen is applied in a concentration of 2 milligrams per square centimeter of skin. That’s a lot of sunscreen — like cake frosting,” she says. “No one puts sunscreen on that thickly. Most people apply one half to one third that amount. So, if you think you are applying SPF 30, you might really be getting the protection of SPF 10. Higher SPF sunscreens are generally better in order to ensure an adequate level of protection. … No one puts it on thickly enough to actually achieve more than about half the number on the bottle.”

Look for new features. “Lots of self-tanners these days also have sunscreen in them,” Gilchrist says. “So you can get some color while protecting yourself.”

Consider the activities you’ll be engaging in. Waterproof and sweat-proof suncreens will help protect you longer in the water or on the tennis court, however, Gilchrist notes, the FDA has only approved sweat/water resistant (not water proof) designations of 40 minutes or 80 minutes. “After that you have to reapply,” she says.

Our recent story about how to save cash during a big move is geared toward people who plan to pay a moving company. But not everybody can afford to pay movers. Some of us need to save that extra cash for move-in deposits or incidentals.

But are there ways to shed less blood, sweat and tears during a DIY move?

Hard to believe these guys had better service when they made me use USPS than Google does when they don’t make me get off of the couch. (Photo: Bloomberg file)

It’s getting harder to use the things that I think I own. That’s not a great customer experience.

This morning, I played a CD at home. Because I didn’t physically take the CD or CD player to work with me, my wife, who works from our home, obviously has the option of listening to it while I’m at work.

A couple of years ago, when I listened to music primarily via iTunes, I had a lot of MP3s on my desktop computer. Through iTunes, I shared my library on my home network and my wife could play the music that we owned on her computer, too.

Now, I’m split between using physical copies — CDs and vinyl — and cloud-based services like Google Play, with music I own, and Spotify, with music I don’t own. Most of the music I own is most easily accessed digitally, because many CDs are buried in boxes. But when I’m at work, because my Google Play content is accessed via my personal Google account, my wife can’t listen to it. Reached by phone (not easy, but easier than I expected it to be), Google Play support confirmed that the only way for us to share music is to manually upload it to each of our accounts, and if and when we buy music through the Google Play store, to download it and upload it to the other person’s account. My customer service rep called this “side-loading.” Read more…

Business is personal. And it impacts nearly every aspect of our daily lives. From keeping a household budget to planning for retirement, to getting (and keeping) a job or just putting up with annoying guy in the next cubicle — we've got a lot on our minds, and Personal Interest wants to help you sort it all out. We're bringing together the Denver Post $mart Editor with variety of experts from the local business community. We've asked them to offer tips, advice and general observations aimed at making the business of everyday life a bit easier to manager. Note: The bloggers were selected for their expertise, but their opinions are solely their own. While many operate their own businesses or consulting firms, we are not endorsing or advocating their businesses.